[Joe3788]

My bad....what was I thinking trying to shed some positive light on this forum full of doom.

[whyhateme]

Merely seeing masses of people walking around in a casino or mall doesn't necessarily mean times are picking up. How much money do they have in their pockets to spend? As several casinos have stated, there is foot traffic, but they're not spending like they have in the past. I would say there are more 'window shoppers' than shoppers readily and willing to buy. I want to be optimistic, but at present, I don't see any major improvement in the economy.

[airics]

Originally Posted by pommysmommy

It is easy to get a "rosy" view of the economy in a tourist town. The people (families) who have lost their homes to foreclosure are not in Las Vegas. I think there are far more of those people than the tourists who can afford a vacation.

really? those people are the one's that are renting the homes that the investors are buying.... the people that are now renting have more disposable income since the rent is less than what they were paying in mortgage...

Not everyone left pommy... You really need to stick to your own city's forum which you live in.. You may visit often, but you don't know what's really going on..

[countonme]

Originally Posted by BUGBULLY

We were also at the Charleston Outlet mall yesterday. Boy was it packed. It seemed busier then when we had been there on a weekend a couple of months ago.

I think a lot of people are taking last minute vacations before school starts back up.

A lot of people are not paying there mortgage an going shopping insted. What the use they are so underwater even if they are still working why pay when everyone is living for free. I m kind of joking but not really.

[BUGBULLY]

Some are yes, but some are not. They are seeking the deals that are out there and having fun. We actually took part of the day off to shop at various areas around town. Mostly for school but some for us.

We saw a lot of foreigners, to me really does not matter. Still money being spent in our town!

[sadiemae62]

I agree. Things are picking up, and it's not just all tourists either.

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by sadiemae62

I agree. Things are picking up, and it's not just all tourists either.

Talk to me in a year.

[PAS36BH]

here is a bigger picture at how bad our economy is Daily Job Cuts - Layoff News , Job Layoffs 2010 / 2009 , Bankruptcy, Store closings and other Business Economy News

[jonnyald]

you mention foreigners, from where? here in England theres plenty of shops empty and folk walking the street looking lost But i see a big increase in tourists from ASIA and im thinking the balance of power is tipping that way. a friend of mine works in an Indian restaurant here and 50 chinese tourists booked in for a meal. The only difference from the regular diners were that not a single scrap of food was left at the end of the meal.

[Kaiminani]

There are a lot of people who believe that China is on the cusp of a property bubble. I read recently that housing costs in Beijing have increased roughly 10x over the last 5 or so years and that has made housing practically unaffordable for the new middle class in such areas. They don't do interest-only mortgages in China but they have their own peculiarities - such as a tendency to buy and hold property unoccupied (the analogy I've heard is that such property is considered much like a brick of gold rather than something which generates income). I don't know enough to say what kind of effects that sort of behaviour has on the real-estate market, but as a gut-level reaction it sounds like it could cause a massive cascade of selling if people start to think they need to get cash out of those bricks of gold.